Does Reparative Therapy Work?

Does Reparative Therapy Work? (3:42)

Reparative therapy is a controversial treatment that attempts to change a person's sexual orientation. In this video, experts talk to Dr. Oz about whether the approach is ever appropriate.

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Does Reparative Therapy really work? While you've heard both sides of this equation, from men who've gone through it. Now let's hear from the experts. Dr. Julie Hamilton is a licensed marriage and family therapist and the former president, the national association research and therapy homosexuality, it's otherwise known as NARTH.

She say Reparative Therapy works. Dr. John Shoper the lean psychiatrist, the faculty member at Harvard, who says Reparative Therapy needs to be banned. I know you were watching the show earlier, and Peter and Gabriel sitting in the audience. They both argue that they went through reparative therapy.

It did not work for them in fact they argue that it harmed them.Yes. So, how do you explain to them, how do you justified to them the pain that they went through. Right, well first of all, I just want to say I'm so sorry for the terrible experience that you had. The suicide rate and depression rate within the homosexual population are sadly very high, very very high.

Now, some people say that's because we live in a homophobic culture. Because of the kind of work that you do and the styles. Do you understand that?Do you understand that. Okay, yeah. So I am sorry that you feel that way. But let me say that, It's not what I feel, what I feel is, I feel frustrated that you're telling these stories.

What I think is that there's a direct correlation between high rates of suicide in gay folks and the very work that he was found. Okay, okay. So if there's someone sitting at home right now, who for whatever reason is not happy that they're gay and they have, they maybe got pressure from outside and they're trying to make a decision based on this show, if they should go see someone like Chris and get therapy.

I've got to give them advice and that's our obligation now. My advice clearly is don't. Don't go see a reparative therapist, with all due respect because I believe that reparative therapists have an agenda which they put ahead of the patients. So, when a patient comes to see me, let's say they've got conflicted issues in their life, everybody who doesn't have conflicted issues in their life? I'm interested in exploring those issues and helping a person discover what's in their psyche, to disentangle the threats, to help somebody lead a whole life that they feel comfortable with.

Your therapies have this idea lines have crossed, and something about sexualize from the male figure, or not enough of the male figure very simplistic notions that don't stand from the patient in front of you, stand from your preconceived ideas, that's anathema to the American Psychiatric Association, The American Psychological Association, I could go on and on.

So someone wanted the change, how they felt for the opposite sex, is it possible that could happen with the therapy, the safe for a version of what I'm hearing about today, or is this something that was just knocked out and get out of people's mind because it's harmful to them? People don't change, we try to change people in marriages.

I'm living proof. I have two kids I change, you're ignoring research. No sir I don't know what your change means. For example, many people have go, many people have gone through Reparative Therapy, they change in the sense of suppressing some urges or what they're willing to act on.

They came in the sense of becoming less sexual. This is not the kind the kind of healthy change that I would want to see in my patients. That's incredibly offensive to people like me. In the literature that this is actually some of the outcomes. There's a lot of harm in Reparative Therapy.

It's not a benign procedure. It's not something we can casually just not notice is going the room next door. People get depressed, anxious, suicidal. Dr. [xx] if you look at these organizations over the last 20 years, you'll see a rotation a former leadership who have come out and said, actually you know what, it doesn't work I'm gay again.

And so there's a rich history in this culture of change that tells us it really doesn't work. We're going to continue this discussion and we'll talk about, be right back.

About John R. Sharp, MD

John R. Sharp, MD is an expert in the integrated treatment of depression and bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, attention deficit disorder, and addiction. He maintains an active private practice in Boston and Los Angeles.